I've speculated that Zune's music sharing features could see a rocky road legally, or be so restricted as to make sharing irrelevant as a selling point for the fledgling device. It's really tough to put out a product these days without stepping on someone's patent, and Zune is no exception to that rule of 21st century business.

Paul Strauss of Technabob says he knows of at least one patent that might be a stumbling block for Microsoft's new baby "I'm quite familiar with a project [...] from the MIT Media lab developed a similar wireless music sharing capability a couple of years ago."

What's more, the team filed a patent application in June of 2004, and then updated that filing at the end of 2005 for functionality that is extremely similar to what we're all hearing about Zune. The project website even pictures 5 hipsters on a park bench, presumably listening to the same thing via different devices. A goal it seems Microsoft shares. The group's website spells out the details much more clearly for the layman than the patent filing:

"With the tunA project we are investigating a way to use music in order to connect people at a local scale, through the creation of dynamic and ad-hoc wireless networks. tunA allows users to listen to what other people in physical proximity are listening to, synchronized to enable the feeling of a shared experience. tunA also provides the opportunity to users to share their songs in many situations and while moving around, fostering a sense of awareness of the surrounding physical environment."

Dry patent speak and diagrams from the filing after the jump.

Update : MIT alum Adam Lindsay wrote to say, "Nice find, but I don't necessarily see a lawsuit coming out of this. In fact, it sounds like the legitimate source of the Zune's supposed features. MS is one of the Media Lab's current sponsors consortium sponsors receive full intellectual property rights-license-fee free and royalty free-to all work developed in the Laboratory during their sponsorship years. Sounds like win-win, really."
What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time comprising, in combination, a first player for reproducing time-based media program content in a form perceptible to a first user, a second player for reproducing time-based media program content in a form perceptible to a second user, a communication channel for transmitting the specific time-based media content being reproduced by said first player to said second player, and control means in said second player for reproducing said specific time-based media content for said second user at substantially the same time said specific time-based media content is being reproduced by said first player for said first user.

2. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first player includes means for broadcasting an announcement message via said communication channel that identifies said first player to other nearby players, and wherein said second player receives said announcement message and maintains a list of players that are currently nearby.

3. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 1 further including means for transmitting information describing said first user from said first player to said second player via said communication channel.

4. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 1 wherein said first and second players include means for exchanging identification information via said communication channel.

5. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 4 wherein said first and second players further store permission data entered by said first and second users respectively which control the extent to which said identification information is exchanged.

6. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 4 wherein said first and second players further include means for exchanging text messages entered by said first and second users respectively.

7. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 4 wherein said identification information includes image data portraying said first and second users.

8. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 4 wherein said identification information includes information describing said specific time-based media content being reproduced by said first player.

9. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 4 wherein said identification information includes information describing time-based media program content which is stored on one or more of said players and is available for transmission to and reproduction by said other players.

10. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 1 wherein said communication channel is established between wireless transceivers in said first and second players when said first and second players are within radio range of one another.

11. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 10 wherein said wireless transceivers conform to the IEEE 802.11b standard.

12. Apparatus for enabling two individuals to listen to the same time-based media program content at the same time as set forth in claim 10 wherein said wireless transceivers conform to the Bluetooth standard.

13. A music sharing system comprising a plurality of hand-held music players which are interconnected by a wireless communications network, each of said players comprising: means for selecting another given one of said players, and means for synchronously reproducing the same music currently being played by said given one of said players.

14. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 13 wherein each of said players further comprises means for displaying and exchanging text messages with one or more other players via said wireless communications network.

15. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 13 wherein each of said players further comprises means for transmitting profile data which describes its user to other players via said wireless communication network.

16. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 15 wherein said means for transmitting profile data includes means for storing preference values accepted from a user and means for preventing the transmission of profile data whose transmission is not authorized by said preference data.

17. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 13 wherein each of said players further comprises means for identifying the presence of other players that are geographically nearby.

18. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said means for identifying the presence of other players that are geographically nearby comprises detecting the receipt via said wireless network of identification messages transmitted by said other players that are geographically nearby.

19. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 17 wherein said means for selecting a given one of said players comprises means for displaying information identifying said other players that are geographically nearby.

20. A music sharing system as set forth in claim 13 wherein said means for synchronously reproducing the same music currently being played by said given one of said players includes means for receiving timing information and music content from said given one of said players and for reproducing said music content at times indicated by said timing information.